Art and Public Spaces in Paris

Yes, I loved absorbing the art in the museums (particularly l'Orangerie and D'Orsay, and the Rodin--the Louvre was too crowded to do much more than glimpse works over hundreds of heads). But it was the architecture, the gloriously beautiful buildings, public spaces, public art, that moved me more.

 

 

 

THE Mona Lisa.

 

The crowd taking a picture of the Mona Lisa (I thought so much of Don DeLillo's most photographed barn in America during this trip)

 

Venus de Milo had a similar fan club: I was able to get this close only momentarily before a tour group leader asked me to move so her group could stand there and listen to her read what sounded like the Wikipedia entry.

 

The Conciergerie: once one of the first royal palaces, later used as a prison. Marie Antoinette was one famous prisoner.

 

A view from inside the Louvre.

 

The Champ de Mars (a public park), walking toward the Eiffel Tower.

 

Outside one of my favorite museums, Musee de l'Orangerie. Inside are Monet's water lilies.

 

Rodin's Garden, outside the Rodin Museum. Here's The Thinker with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

 

Leaving the Eiffel Tower, we walked back along the right bank of the Seine (that pink scarf is the only thing I bought in Paris besides food--from the street market near our hotel).

 

The Tuileries Garden, next to the Louvre. A beautiful formal garden.

 

View from the Basilica of the Sacre Couer in the Montmartre area of Paris.

 

The steps of the Basilica of the Sacre Couer.